Jerusalem ? Hamas may be willing to agree to a cease-fire with Israel for one year, a senior official of the militant group said in an interview published on Saturday. Hamas said it had not fired any rockets at Israel from the Gaza Strip for days.

In the West Bank after nightfall, Israeli troops shot and killed a Palestinian and injured three in the city of Nablus, Palestinian rescue said. The army said troops fired at an armed man during an arrest operation in the city.

A previous Gaza truce between Hamas and Israel unraveled in mid-May when Hamas intensified rocket launchings into Israel, killing two Israelis. In counterstrikes on the Gaza Strip, the Israeli army has killed more than 60 Palestinians, most of them militants.

Halting the bloodshed will be at the top of the agenda in a meeting next week between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Abbas, leader of the moderate Fatah Party, has been trying to press coalition partner Hamas to renew the truce.